My Papa.  One of the "good-est" of all good ole' boys!  Dad's a story teller, hard worker, honest, smart, responsible, fun-loving, big laughing, joke-telling, blue-eyed smiler!  Oh, I've seen him grumpy, but you put him in a crowd and this guy comes to life with more tales than you can shake a possum at!  From river bank sagas to coon-treein' huntin' accounts, dad can talk about adventures that will make your mouth fly open and take your lips to instant teeth shinin' places!  His laugh shakes a room and rubs off on anyone within ear's distance!  

Dad grew up the big brother of 3 siblings, Loyd, Rosie & Lillie.  The girls were twins.  With teachers for parents and a dad who would be involved with a number of continued other jobs through the years, dad had quite a lot of responsibility.  He tells the predictable tales of walking miles to school, but always enhances with details of having to start the wood stove and get the building warmed and ready early in the morning before other kids arrived.  I remember him talking about a house he lived in that didn't have heat in his upstairs bedroom, but the flu from the wood stove went through his room and so he would scoot his bed close enough to warm his feet on the chimney.  His horse riding stories with his cousin/friend John Visiono and cross country trip with Buddy Cooper to California remind me of an era that I can only imagine!  One of the "wild west" adventures he has shared is about a roller coaster over the ocean where dad had to pry Buddy's hands loose after the ride as it was a harrowing first for them both!  

Dad grew up working in the fields, baling hay, feeding livestock, milking cows and keeping watermelons cold in the spring. He was familiar with root cellars, corn fields and "fresh" fried chicken that he most likely boiled and plucked himself on numerous occasions!  He hunted rabbits, cleaned squirrels and fished with a pole or a gig, whatever was most handy and would bring home dinner.  He drove a tractor, played and worked in a barn and knew the woods.  He knew how to shake sweet rich cream and make butter, how to plant, weed and harvest garden goods to can, store and eat through the winter.  

Dad went to work in the mines in Fredericktown as a young adult and carried a metal lunch pail every day.  I believe he has pumped gas, worked on cars, worked for numerous others and learned the business of insurance that eventually became his career until retirement.  Dad worked faithfully and quite successfully at his little business and established our home in a way that included security and provision all the years of our growing up.  It was dad who my sister and brother and I loved to talk into taking us to the store.  We could almost convince him to purchase anything from exotic fruit to pop sickles....that is, if mom wasn't looking!  The favorite?  A&W Root Beer nights with the family and Saturday evenings at the stock car races where inevitably I would get dad to buy me a fish sandwich and a coke! 

I love the heritage he lived and has so graciously shared.  He is a true, honest red-blooded, lovable American, but most of all, he is my dad!  What a blessing to have parents who cared enough to nurture and jump start our lives with love, respect and fun!  I realize that few in this era have such rich treasures.  Happy Father's day, Pappa!!! My dad & his brother, Lloyd and twin sisters, Rosie & Lillie

Loyd, Rosie, Harold, Lillie

Mom & Dad